(Apologies for cross-posting)

Dear all,

This is a reminder that next Tuesday 20th February is the first Social 
Research Association (SRA) evening seminar of 2007. Further details are below.

It promises to be a most interesting event on employment research, so 
please try and attend if you can!

***Key findings from the 2004 Workplace Employment Relations Survey (WERS 
2004)***

5:00pm, Tuesday 20th Feburary 2007 (light refreshments from 4:30pm), at The 
Nuffield Foundation
28 Bedford Square, London WC1B 3JS

BACKGROUND TO THE SEMINAR

The 2004 Workplace Employment Relations Survey is the fifth in the series 
of surveys which have generally been considered to be one of the most 
authoritative sources of information on employment relations in Great 
Britain. It is jointly sponsored by the Department of Trade and Industry 
(DTI), the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC), the Advisory, 
Conciliation and Arbitration Service (Acas), and the Policy Studies 
Institute (PSI).

WERS 2004 involved interviews with around 3,200 managers and about 1,000 
worker representatives. More than 20,000 employees completed and returned a 
self-completion questionnaire. The survey links the views from these 
parties, providing a truly integrated picture of the state of employment 
relations inside British workplaces.

The data is used to inform policy development in employment relations and 
to assess the success of existing policies. The findings of the current 
survey are of notable interest as they can be used to assess change in 
employers’ employment relations practices in most of the areas where 
government reform has taken place in recent years, including equal 
opportunities, work-life balance, trade union recognition and dispute 
resolution.

The SRA is therefore pleased to announce that on the 20th February, Barbara 
Kersley, Principal Research Officer, Department from Trade and Industry 
(DTI) will describe the methodological issues behind this survey and 
outline the main findings of the 2004 survey. This will include looking at 
changes in employer practices as a result of policy reform since 1998, and 
at changes in the experiences of employees over the same period.

The seminar is free to SRA members, while a small charge of £10 is payable 
by non-members. The seminar will take place at The Nuffield Foundation 
(directions available at 
http://www.nuffieldfoundation.org/go/contactus/page_17.html).
There is no need to book: simply turn up on the evening.

The seminar will start promptly at 5:00pm, and will end at around 6.30pm.

The Social Research Association looks forward to welcoming you.